


Darkening skies incoming this way falling behind, into nothing

by cutebutpsyco



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Divergence - Post-Captain America: Civil War, Canon Divergence - Post-Venom, Crossover, Gen, Post Captain America: Civil War, not really a crossover because thy are the same comics universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-30
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:29:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27284944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cutebutpsyco/pseuds/cutebutpsyco
Summary: “So, how happens that Dr Bruce Banner knows how to fly a jet?”Banner chuckled and after fixing something on the navigation panel turned to look at Eddie.“It’s not me, it’s the Hulk now,” Which, yeah, Brook could tell it was a lie, but he maybe could understand what other implication that sentence could have had better than everybody else. Sometimes it was him, or his body doing something which was suggested and moved by Venom from the inside. It lasted a second before he remembered about the battle of New York and in Sokovia. If the man could really get that control on the Hulk, he would have. It was different. He knew that he was able to control Venom just because the alien wanted him to do that much. It was something he told him over and over again. Evidently, Banner realized what Eddie was thinking about because, a moment later, he shook his head, finishing to adjust what he was doing before continuing: “After Sokovia, the Hulk decided to run away. He stole one of these and flighted it toward, I don’t even know where. I never learned how to fly a jet, but somehow, what Hulk knew stayed on me.”
Relationships: Eddie Brock & The Avengers
Comments: 1
Kudos: 31





	Darkening skies incoming this way falling behind, into nothing

**Author's Note:**

> I want to thank once again so much tumblr user takemyhand-bitch for this other prompt of theirs. As you might know, my inspiration in the last months has been really bad and writing this fic took me so, so long. I know it's not perfect, but I'm slowly trying to force my hand on my writer's block because I think it's the only way I can get out of it, so I really hope you'll like this fic. 
> 
> Their prompt was: _Venom meets the Avengers_ and I went with a weird-ish timeline where the events of Venom happen just during/shortly after the Civil War. there's a lot of Canon DIvergence to make it have sense, the most evident being Thor, Loki and Bruce coming back from space way before they actually did and without meeting Thanos but knowing about him.
> 
> I really liked the idea of Eddie and Bruce bonding over the fact of having another creature living inside of them but being the first time ever I try to write from Eddie's POV let me know what you think about it. 
> 
> As always, nothing belongs to me, and the title is from "Satellite" by Starset.

Eddie Brook was that kind of man who stopped questioning things that happened to him. Which was weird when you took into account which his profession was, but still. In the man’s case, it was either that or going completely crazy after being possessed by an alien… no, not a parasite, but it wasn’t like Venom was something different, at least not medically speaking. He wasn’t crazy enough to think about that word, though. 

So, he just decided that if crazy things were coming his way, he was going to accept them and just focusing on investigating stuff that could be actually useful for his wallet. Which maybe wasn’t the most ethical thing to do, but his symbiote ate a police officer so he couldn’t really question what was ethical. 

The point was that he didn’t pay attention to whoever decided to wear a thigh suit and call themselves superheroes, especially since those started to appear like mushrooms out of thin air. That wasn’t the definition of what he was and what he did, and he was more than happy to keep things going that way. Being the person who helped around his neighbourhood and not more than that. Being in the shadow when it came down to Venom. It was easier, considering that he was more than sure that the Government wouldn’t approve his methods especially not after the Accords mess which, ironically, he was asked to cover. He would have refused, on any other occasion, but he needed money more than he needed adventurous jobs. 

So he stayed in the shadows, pretended not to know anything about the superheroes life, which, again, he didn’t, and moved on to the next article with his not-so-silent friend purring at the idea of eating the bad guys. On something, they agreed, though, they weren’t going to join the merry band, even if the Avengers would have known about him and asked him to help. 

“If it comes down to it, can I eat Captain America?” Venom asked while Eddie was driving down the street which would have led him to the prison where he was supposed to interrogate someone who asked specifically for him. He had no idea about who the man was, but he still knew the smell of some juicy news when he was at nose-length. 

“No, for the last time, I know he looks beefy, but you are not eating a War World II veteran,” Why he kept answering to the symbiote was still a mystery especially when it was about what Venom could or could not eat. Which, according to the other, was everything and everyone, and, according to Eddie, well, he would very much like to keep the number as close as possible to zero, thank you so much. 

But, once again, that was a problem for future Eddie, somebody who seemed to never come and had a ton of problems on his shoulders already. He parked his motorbike outside of the prison gates and then prepared himself for the long and extenuating controls that he already knew were coming. A lot of trouble for somebody he didn’t even know, but up at this point, Eddie was more or less driven just by his curiosity. 

He looked around, while one of the jail guards was letting him walk through hallways and turning corners, he didn’t ask who wanted to meet with him, he didn’t ask anything because he was too surprised by the idea that somebody would have asked specifically for him. He used to be a famous journalist before the entire mess went down, but after ending up on the other side of the printed paper didn’t help his career that much. He shook his head, eyes going everywhere in search of any clue of whoever could have asked to meet him. 

Eddie’s eyes, for once, weren’t the one of a reporter while he knew he should have used the opportunity. He was tired, in a way his job never made him feel, tired to look for something that was in plain sight and that was just waiting for somebody to point it out. Which was the point? When everything started to crumble on himself, the only thing who kept him going was his job, but why he was still doing it, he had no idea. He didn’t care. His discoveries were silenced by checks signed for his network and the only thing people asked him to do was looking somewhere else. There was no point in covering real stories anymore, and that was why he was tired, that was why the only reason why he was in that prison was that somebody did ask to meet him. 

He looked at the guard as if he was waiting for the other man to say something, but he just kept walking, passing through another hallway until they reached what seemed to be a weird mix between a cafeteria and a waiting room. Seated to one of the metal tables there was a vaguely familiar face, by his side there was a woman who looked like the photography description of a lawyer and two men Eddie never thought he could have a meeting with, not that he really wanted to, to be honest.  
His eyes ran from the prison guard who was stepping back behind the door he walked through and the small party waiting for him trying to connect the man’s face to a name which he was sure he should have known. For once, asking for Venom’s help seemed to be pointless, so he decided to focus on the two men he actually knew. 

“Mr Stark, Secretary Ross,” He said, and was sure that the awkward surprise was well audible in his voice. When they both just nodded, Eddie turned his attention to the other two people in the room, an eyebrow raised as if to wait for an explanation. 

“Oh, yeah, Scott Lang,” The man said, moving to shake Eddie’s hand and revealing a pair of handcuffs around his wrists. Now, that explained why they asked him to come to the penitentiary. That name, once again, resonated in his mind, but Eddie couldn’t seem to really remember where he heard it before. “Thank you for coming.”

“It’s my… pleasure?” He could feel Venom rolling his eyes at the ceiling, and Venom didn’t even have eyes to start with. Great way to prove he was a respectable journalist. He felt like the only impression he gave since the first moment he walked into the room was to be a huge idiot. He shook his head and tried to focus back on the image he was supposed to give of himself. Cold, collected, focused. “How can I help you?”

It was the oddest mix of people he had ever met, including the time where he interviewed a man who was keeping aliens in his basement to try and implant them in random homeless people. He just wished he had answers for all of the questions that were crossing his mind, but if he knew the kind of men Ross and Stark were, all he would have received were just more questions. 

“You are the man from that Civil War special, aren’t you?” General Ross answered and Eddie couldn’t help but not and, for once, it was without pride. He had no idea how a question which people asked him at least ten times per day could become so frightening coming from the Secretary in front of him. 

“Yes, it’s me,” he said, still unsure about which was the better answer. If they were there, they probably already knew, so there was no point in lying. He could hear Venom’s voice in his head asking if he could just make the old man shut up, but he got better ignoring him when it was useful too. 

“Great, we’ll need your interview with Mr Lang here,” Stark answered, clapping his hands together and then turning to look at the man and the person he thought was his lawyer. “We are trying to have the public know the other side from somebody who wasn’t directly interested and then we’ll hope people will accept the idea of having them staying at home instead of a jail.”

Eddie’s eyes ran on the man who was speaking. It was weird, he knew Stark was the person who took the side of the Accords since the beginning and he couldn’t really understand why either he or Secretary Ross could have any interest in this, but, on the other hand, he knew it wasn’t his position to question that much, especially considering the fact that he knew it would have become harder and harder to keep Venom under control. “Ok,” He answered, instead. “Just tell me if there’s some question you’d like me to address and we can start whenever we want.”

Despite the last words being directed toward Lang and his lawyer, it was Ross who answered: “You can sort this out with Mr Lang, his lawyer knows everything and I have to be in DC in two hours, Stark?”

The billionaire let his eyes run from the three people who were still in the room and then to the leaving Secretary. “Get the jet, I don’t have your busy schedule.”

The man shook his head but walked out nonetheless and only then Stark turned to look at Eddie. “Mr Brook, I was dying to speak with you. Scott’s lawyer will give you a nice card to contact for the interview, while you follow me outside.”

Eddie was the kind of man who would have answered without a problem that it was the last thing he wanted to do but, at the same time, was curious about what Tony Stark out of every person in the world might want for him, so he decided that, for once, he could follow someone’s else advice and nodded at Ant-Man while taking his lawyer’s business card before tailoring the billionaire outside of the room. Stark waited for them to be once again in the open air before letting his eyes take in Eddie and the motorbike he drove to the jail. 

“So, I’m going to ask you one thing, hypothetically, and I hope you’ll have enough respect for my genius to give an honest answer.”

He leaned against Eddie’s bike and the man had once again a hard time to keep Venom under control. He seemed like the symbiote hated the shit out of Stark for some reason while the journalist just found his behaviour annoying at best. It wasn’t his first round with entitled rich people and, differently from his friend, he still knew how to keep a cold composure, at least with them. He nodded, though, because the last thing he wanted was to show to Stark Venom and the man would have understood that something was wrong in him if he spoke when the symbiote was so upset. The billionaire just took his phone and tapped on the touchscreen until a holographic image was projected in front of both his and Eddie’s eyes. It was an extremely low-quality video, very likely from the convenience store at the corner where Eddie brought the majority of Venom’s Pop-Tarts which showed how half of the journalist’s face was replaced by Vemon’s himself. Despite the poor quality, the fact that Eddie was the person on the screen was undeniable. 

“If you are going to tell me it was a Halloween mask, think about it twice, Brook,” Stark tapped once again on his phone and a second hologram appeared beside the one from the convenience store. This was a high definition picture taken from a place Edde had known far too well in the past couple of weeks or so and it showed Venom and Riot fighting not far from the bay of San Francisco. Eddie knew that he could play dumb, but he also knew that the man who just left was the one who could have imprisoned him just because he was playing as host for Venom and Stark didn’t sell him. Maybe because he wasn’t sure or, more likely, because he wanted something from Brook. “Carlton Drake was an idiot and Life Foundations would do so much better without him, but this doesn’t explain how you get to keep one of his friends.”

For a second, Eddie found himself asking how and what Tony Stark could know about Dr Drake’s research, but then he remembered it was Tony Stark he was speaking to. The man was able to find out everything if he put his mind to it and without even breaking a sweat. The real question was why was he interested in those, or in him being Venom’s host. 

“This would sound stupid, but I found myself in the right place at the right moment,” He answered, once again coming to terms with the fact that trying to deny would have very likely been useless. 

Stark scoffed: “The worst origin story ever, and I had to listen to a kid going on forever about how a random spider bit him during a field trip,” Apparently he was waiting for some reaction that didn’t come because a moment later he continued: “Ross doesn’t know a thing about it, and the interview is totally real, I just wanted to know, and propose you something.”

“I’m not signing the Accords,” He didn’t even know if that was one of the things Stark wanted to speak to him about, but if the billionaire was so willing to continue that conversation, then he needed to know. There was no amount of money that could have forced him to do that much, and nothing at all either. Venom wasn’t some sort of superpower which needed to be registered and monitored. He was a living creature coming from outside of the Earth with his own mind and consciousness. 

“The Accords are no longer our priority. Yes, Ross won’t ever shut up about them, but the truth is that we can’t really keep discussing them. So I don’t give a damn if you are going to sign. That’s not what I wanted to ask you.” 

_I’m not going back in a cage,_ Venom’s voice reached him before Eddie could say anything and, a moment later, he fixed his eyes in Stark’s before saying, the most serious tone he had ever used: “Venom is not up for studying. He’s not fucking ET.”

This time, Iron Man rolled his eyes to the ceiling. “And that’s why you are speaking with me and not with some agent at Area 51, which I own and I can assure you it’s more for the scene than anything else. Why don’t you stop asking questions for two seconds so that I can tell you why I am here?”

Once again, all Eddie could do was nod at the other man’s words. “Three days ago, a dear friend of mine shattered the mystical window of a wizard in the Village, another friend of mine, one who usually comes with thunders and messes all over the world followed him shortly after along with his murderer adopted brother. They were speaking about an incoming threat. Knowing the two brothers, it can arrive either tomorrow or in the next century, but half of my team is either running from justice or in prison. The Earth needs all its possible allies.”

Eddie looked at him for one instant, trying to understand if he understood what Stark was telling him. It didn’t take a genius to realize who were the two brothers the billionaire was talking about and while he had no idea about wizards in the Greenwich Village in New York he could understand what Tony Stark was implying. And the weird thing was that Venom seemed to be excited about the idea. “If you’ll need me, I think you know how to contact me, Mr Stark.”

“Tony, please,” The other man answered, this time stepping away from Eddie’s motorbike. “And I’m looking forward to our collaboration.”

A moment later, the man tapped against his chest and Eddie was amazed by the way an Iron Man suit appeared out of thin air and embraced the billionaire’s body turning him into the hero the entire world knew. 

“Can we do that too?” Venom asked once they were alone. Eddie couldn’t help but laughed. 

“Oh, believe me, that would totally be something I’d never stop you from doing.”

\--

“Boss?” Tony raised his eyes from the table he was working at. Since he not only knew about the existence of a magic-user in New York, but one of his best friends flew through the man’s roof to bring bad news, he couldn’t help but monitor every broadcast around the globe in the vain hope to try to understand what was coming from them. And, possibly, trying to figure out where the hell Rogers and co. ran. He didn’t doubt the threat Bruce, Thor and Loki warned them about was real, and for this reason, he was starting to be paranoid, well, more paranoid than usual. 

“Yes?” He asked, without even looking away from the tablet. He was always amazed by people’s tendency to look for Friday’s physical form and once they couldn’t find it, just for them to look up at the ceiling as if they were expecting her to look from some CCTV camera but the truth was that it was something that Stark himself did, especially with Jarvis. Years of living with an AI had him rid of that habit, more so when he was focused on something else. 

“Eddie Brook was downstairs, Peter arrived and invited him in, they currently are in the Avengers main room, both of them waiting for you.”

Stark froze. Of course, he forgot about the fact that Peter was coming over to work at his suit after school because the spider kid still didn’t know about what Bruce, Thor and Loki told the wizard and Tony had all the intentions to keep things like this. He closed his tablet and was halfway down the hallway because he could give Friday any answer for what she said. He was already in the lift when he finally said something to her: “Let them know I’m coming up.”

When the doors opened, Tony was greeted with one of the most horrifying sights that he was sure was going to follow him in his nightmares if only he didn’t know who was the person in front of him and knew he could trust them on not killing each other inside of the Avengers Tower: Peter, jeans over the bottom part of his Spider-Man suit which was substituting his t-shirt, was looking amazed what seemed to be a bigger and black version of himself, something that Tony only saw in the pictures he showed Brook back in San Francisco. It was weird seeing it in front of his eyes, even if Tony had seen weirder and knew what the alien creature was able to do. Weird and frightening. 

“Mr Stark!” The kid turned to look at him, just realizing at that moment that the two of them weren’t alone any more. “You have to see this, it’s so cool!” 

The billionaire looked at the teen’s wide eyes and then ran his own on the alien creature's face. They weren’t the same sky blues, but pitch black pits of hell. Something that would have upset everyone who found face to face with him. And yet, there was something sweet in the rest of the alien’s face, something mirrored by an uncertain smile. 

“The Spider-Kid is cool,” What Tony supposed to be Venom’s voice replied, apparently completely unbiased by Stark’s stern expression. The man was ready to blast the shit out of Brook if his slimy friend even dared to look at Peter in the wrong way, but something told him that would have been an epic fight to witness. 

“Oh god, there’s two of them,” The genius said, instead, his eyes moving back and forward between Peter and Venom. “Can I speak with an adult?”

“I’m not sure it would change a lot,” Brook’s voice answered from somewhere inside of Venom? Tony had no idea, and he wasn’t even sure he wanted to know if he had to be honest. The point was, he had no idea how it was even possible to do what the journalist did, and had a list of questions ready for him once they’d be alone. What amazed him was how the black creature left immediately retreating inside of the man’s body just like Tony’s nano suit did. It was interesting, and immediately something else to add to Stark’s questions. But that was something for another time, very likely. 

He shook his head and invited Brook to take a seat on one of the leather sofas in the main room. “So, what brings you here?” 

Brook shook his head, resting his back against the sofa and letting his again sky blue eyes running from Stark to Peter, as to ask him if he could speak in the kid’s presence. Tony knew he could trust Parker, and while he wasn’t sure he wanted the Spider-Kid to know what was wrong, he also knew it was for the better. Peter tended to always find himself in the worst place possible with the most terrible timing and it was better for him to be ready. Even if that meant the possibility of Peter actually seeking for the very same threat Tony wanted him to be as far as possible from.  
So he decided that the responsible thing to do, at least at that moment, was to nod and signalling the other man to go ahead and tell him the real reason that brought the journalist to New York and in the Avengers tower.

“I finished the interview with Lang, will be up tomorrow morning in all the newspapers you paid for, so I had a couple of days off and I thought it couldn't hurt meeting the rest of the team,” Tony nodded. He didn’t really care about the interview because he was well aware of the fact that the only interest Ross had in it was to make a point for his future candidacy. A candidacy Tony didn’t want to see any time soon and was doing everything in his power to stop even before the other man started to think about it, but that was a story for another day. He knew which was the prize to come down with men in politics, and Tony was already in enough dirt from his past that dipping a little bit longer wasn’t a problem for him, if only he could have found a way to keep the people he cared for as far as possible, that would have been better. But, for now, Lang wasn’t there yet even if the billionaire didn’t blame him for taking Steve’s side in the Civil War. That, though, wasn’t something that Brook needed to know. He had no idea about which was the man’s opinion toward the Secretary of State and wasn’t particularly interested in that either. So he just nodded and waited for Eddie to continue: “I thought about your proposal and, as I already told you in San Francisco, if there is any way we can help, Venom and I will. The only thing he cares about is what and what not can he eat in the process.”

Tony had no idea if the man was joking, but a sort of primordial instinct told him not to ask if he really wanted the symbiont’s help. And Stark knew that it was a situation in which everybody’s help was strictly needed. 

\--

Adjusting to the new life he seemed to have tailored for himself was weird to Eddie. He still wasn’t over the idea of Tony Stark finding of Venom even if how the man put it had a lot of sense, and now he was living in the Avengers Tower. Which was something he never really took into consideration as an option if he had to be honest. With his job, he was well aware that one of the reasons why Stark offered him to stay and gave him an entire floor, which was way bigger than his actual home in San Francisco, was out of curiosity but he didn’t really care. As far as the genius didn’t stick some tube up his ass, he and Venom agreed that they would have looked at the bright side of it. 

And the bright side was having at his own disposal an AI ready to do al the researches he needed to continue to work even if he was at the other side of the country and getting to know the people behind the heroes he looked flying up in the skies every time a little threat was starting to loom on the Earth. Yes, maybe he was being kind of ironic, but it wasn’t like anyone needed to know and Venom was already enough sarcastic for everyone else. 

Despite everything, though, the alien seemed to have grown an affection toward Peter. The teen was maybe the first person but for Eddie himself to treat Venom as something as close as possible to a human and this was something that he always appreciated. It was nice when you ignored the fact that there was something bigger coming from them from space and that meant spending hours discussing things Eddie didn’t even fully understand. 

And that was the reason why he was standing in the corner of one of the conference rooms of the Tower. Around the table stood Tony Stark, who looked like he could do with ten hours of sleep, Bruce Banner, who Eddie met briefly while he was moving some of his stuff inside of his new room in New York, Thor and Loki, Colonel James Rhodes and a man Eddie had never seen before who was wearing a long red cape and gave an aura of power. Those were the real heroes, the Avengers, the people who defended them from aliens back in 2012, those were people with whom Eddie had nothing to share with, and yet there he was, trying to make sense to what happened in the last couple of weeks and trying to understand why, but for the evident presence of Venom inside of him, he had been deemed worthy to sit on a table with them. 

He was no genius and the only threat he ever fought against was one which he was indirectly responsible for. And what scared him was that if Stark resolved to contact him out of everyone, it meant the situation was more worrying than the man actually admitted. 

“So, what do you think it’s the best thing we can do now, wizard?” The genius asked the man in the red cape. Eddie didn’t really understand who he was, but he saw Loki speaking with him after another one of those meetings and supposed he was someone from Asgard or something. It wasn’t like either him or Venom were particularly interested in getting on the wrong side of somebody in the mix and they just decided to try and make friends with whom appeared to be friendly toward them. The man with the cape and the black-haired god didn’t. 

The man shook his head and then leaned forward looking over some holographic picture that was projected on the table in front of them. He moved it around and Eddie could see some orange sparkles leaving the man’s fingertips. 

“I don’t know,” He said, looking at the pictures in front of him as if they threatened to kill his entire family. If Eddie understood what they were and which was the power of the Stones in the pictures, it wasn’t so distant from what the man who was coming was intended to do. “We need to hide the Stones which are on Earth, if your android went loose, find him again. I’ll leave the Time Stone in its secret hiding in Kamar-Taj, but we’ll need more than this,” His eyes ran from Stark to Loki by his side and they glowed green. Eddie couldn’t tell if it was because of the picture of the Time Stone or just something they did but he swore himself he would have never been on the other side of that glance, ever. “Where is the Space Stone? Tell me you are not so stupid to bring it on a planet where there are already two of them.” 

Loki rolled his eyes at the ceiling and Eddie could feel Venom chuckle in his mind and while Eddie didn’t understand why he just shrugged and kept following with his eyes the exchange in front of him. In the short time he spent in the Tower, he realized that the Avengers, or what was left of them, anyway, seemed to treat Loki as either a persistent annoyance or a baby even if he was the man who threatened and destroyed half of New York City so many years ago. He had no idea why, but the God of Mischief went along with the entire farçe behaving like an angsty teen to the point where the journalist thought it was simply something unsaid between the group. 

“It’s in one of my pocket dimensions,” The god answered, annoyance filling his voice while he leaned back in the chair he was seated on. “And if we were in Asgard, I would have asked for your head for implying the prince to be stupid.”

Strange smirked down at him, it looked like there was a retort ready to leave his lips, but he didn’t say anything. He just looked up at Stark and the rest of the group and continued: “You’ll need to look for Vision, we need to have him with us as soon as possible.”

Stark nodded, placing a hand in front of his eyes as if he was fighting against a terrible headache. Eddie could understand him, it was the same feeling he got every time he left one of those meetings, but Stark was the one who gave him one more time than not. It was weird to see him like that as if whatever Strange implied could physically hurt him. 

Eddie didn’t know the man enough, but the few times he happened to speak with him for real and not just to move in and have things planned out about his role in the New Avengers or whatever Stark was trying to do had the journalist understand that there was something Stark was keeping hidden from everyone else. It was something which maybe Brook realized just because of his job. He knew what to look for in the people’s faces and didn’t matter how good they were to lie and pretend, after a while Eddie could really understand if they were hiding something, just not what, not yet he liked to think. 

Apparently, thinking about Stark’s secrets had him missing the ending of the meeting because he heard chairs being moved and couldn’t help but wake up from the weird metal place his brain brought him. It was funny to see it. At first, when he started to zone out, Venom used to take control over him and things usually didn’t go well for everyone involved, Eddie and the alien included, but now he had become just a pleasant friend in the depths of his mind, something that reminded him he wasn’t alone. And something that suggested to him that it was time to get up from the chair he was seated on and gaining his way out from the meeting room. Maybe he could see if there was some email from his editor, or just a good excuse to leave the Tower and go out a bit on his motorbike. Venom seemed to like the idea, but the moment he tried to gain his exit from the room, Stark approached him. 

“Brook,” He said, and, once again, his voice seemed just as exhausted as he looked shortly before. It didn’t need a genius or lots of years of knowledge of him to understand that there was something bothering the billionaire. The glance Rhodes threw to him seemed to confirm that much. Everyone looked so tired and Eddie couldn’t blame them if whatever threat Thor told them about was actually coming, well, it wasn’t like they had time to lose. He turned to look at the other man and nodded as if inviting him to continue. “We’re splitting up in teams, we have to look for Rogers and co and hope Viz is with them. You are going with Bruce if it’s fine for you.”

Eddie let his eyes run on the other doctor in the room, trying to understand if it was okay for him. He wouldn’t be surprised if someone wasn’t so keen to spend time with Venom. Anne and Dan were the only two people who knew about him and the alien and, at first, they weren’t so happy about spending time with him, scared that Venom could lash out and eat them (Eddie wasn’t so stupid to say that the alien hadn’t thought about it, at some point, but it was at the beginning of their weird friendship, and at that time Venom deemed every human being to be a potential snack. Things were extremely better from that time on). The other man seemed to be extremely focused on something flashing on the holographic screen in the table of the meeting room, but once he heard his name he let his dark eyes go up and he joined Eddie and Stark. 

He took his glasses off and reached them, taking in Eddie's presence near to him. “Yes, we have some clue on where they might be, and we will split up. I know it’s not what you’d prefer, Tony, but…”

“I understand. It’s the right thing to do,” Eddie had no idea of what was going on, once again, he knew really a little about the entire Civil war and wasn’t even sure he wanted to know more. Even if he moved in the Tower, he still wasn't sure that knowing everything about the Avengers was the wisest move, considering that the entire bunch seemed to be way more fucked up that somebody could guess. And they were just the ones who agreed with the Accords. He had no idea how stuff would have turned out once they would have added the Rogues to the mix. 

_It’s like one of those soap operas Anne said you spend too much time watching,_ Venom said, and Eddie really had to focus on the last of his self-control not to growl at the alien. Not that what he said was a lie, but he didn’t like to be reminded of that. And, anyway, maybe yes, maybe Venom totally had a point or two, but he didn’t really care and decided to save the poor guy who gave him a house. “When you are ready to go, Dr Banner, just let me know and I’ll pack my stuff.”

Stark nodded and, a moment later, so did Bruce Banner. “I think we can leave as soon as we are ready. Where are we going?”

That question was for Tony and Stark, a moment later, brought up another holographic image from his StarkPhone, tapping away a lot of panels and pictures showing little information and pictures of the Rogue Avengers. Eddie could see some piece of background from one or the other and on another panel, he could see a map. Brook suspected that what they did was to recreate the background of the pictures they found on the internet and pin-pointing it on the map of the world. That was a tool he would actually need a lot for his job, but maybe it was a little bit too early to ask permission to use it. So, for the moment, he just decided to put that information between the useful ones he was getting from simply walking around in the Avengers Tower and focusing back on the conversation happening in front of him. 

Stark tapped away some location and then focused on a picture of Captain America and Falcon. It wasn’t a clear shot and it was only the flashing of what seemed to be a pair of mechanical wings made them recognizable. That seemed to be enough for Stark, though, because he opened another map and selected a little blinking dot somewhere in the middle of Eastern Europe. 

“This is from two days ago, near where Sokovia used to be,” The genius said. “It’s the most recent picture of them I could find, and our best shot. Rhodey and I will go to Russia where we had information about Natasha, and Thor and Loki will look for Vision and the Scarlet Witch.”

When a curt nod came from both Eddie and Dr Banner, Stark turned his back at them and walked out of the room. The journalist decided it was their green light to go and pack their stuff, ready to leave. He really had no idea about what was waiting for them in Europe, but he didn’t even care at that moment. The few things he understood about the threat that was coming made him wish to never walk out of his room and this was the reason why looking for Captain America and friends was the right thing to do. 

\--

Eddie did not expect to be led to the Avengers Compound from where apparently there was a little airport which would have been able to get a jet flying to Eastern Europe in less than half an hour. That was another perk completely, something that Eddie would have really wanted to have or get the opportunity to ask for sooner or later. Yeah, that implied that Stark would have given him the permission to do that much, but he was helping the billionaire and maybe he could get something in return. Not that he was doing that for a prize or anything, but there were things he might have needed in the future. 

Banner took the controls of the jet and Eddie really couldn’t help himself to look at the man’s ability to move around something that seemed to be so far away from his title or usual tasks, especially in the Avengers. And he just couldn’t help his own curiosity. It wasn’t like he was expecting for the man to lash out and release the Hulk anyway, wouldn’t him?

“So, how happens that Dr Bruce Banner knows how to fly a jet?” 

Banner chuckled and after fixing something on the navigation panel turned to look at Eddie. 

“It’s not me, it’s the Hulk now,” Which, yeah, Brook could tell it was a lie, but he maybe could understand what other implication that sentence could have had better than everybody else. Sometimes it was him, or his body doing something which was suggested and moved by Venom from the inside. It lasted a second before he remembered about the battle of New York and in Sokovia. If the man could really get that control on the Hulk, he would have. It was different. He knew that he was able to control Venom just because the alien wanted him to do that much. It was something he told him over and over again. Evidently, Banner realized what Eddie was thinking about because, a moment later, he shook his head, finishing to adjust what he was doing before continuing: “After Sokovia, the Hulk decided to run away. He stole one of these and flighted it toward, I don’t even know where. I never learned how to fly a jet, but somehow, what Hulk knew stayed on me.”

Eddie smiled, leaning slowly back against his seat. “I know what you mean. It happens to me too, sometimes, with Venom.”

That had the other man raised an eyebrow and Eddie realized that, probably, Stark was the only person to know which was what made him a, well, as far as the journalist hated that name, he knew that it was probably what he was, superhero. So he just smiled, eyes focused to the sky in front of him, enjoying the view which he had never had from a plane and then continued with his explanation: “Some months ago I was investigating a scientific company, groundbreaking research in a lot of fields, Life Foundation. Turns out that the founder, Dr Carlton Drake was a psychopath who happened to find alien life. A form of life which needed a host to survive…”

“Like a para…?” Banner started to ask and, well, Eddie knew why, it was the scientific definition of what Venom was, but he really didn’t want his friend to chop off the Hulk’s head, especially when the Hulk was the person who was in control of the jet they were on. So he just hoped that not finishing the word was enough for Venom to not react. 

“Yes,” He said, “But he doesn’t like that definition. Long story short, not everyone could be a host, I tried to save a homeless woman and became Venom’s host. Dr Drake didn’t like it, and neither didn’t Venom’s boss, they wanted to colonize the Earth and I had to fight against Drake. Well, Venom and the alien Drake took for himself did most of the fighting, but still.”

“So, Venom is, inside of you?” 

Eddie smirked, and he knew he didn’t even need to ask for Venom’s permission because the alien was ready to show himself the exact moment the question left Dr Banner’s mouth. He let him cover his body and only when half of his face morphed into Venom’s, he answered: “Sometimes he’s also outside of me.”

He didn’t know what reaction he was expecting from Banner, but all the man did was nod just before turning his seat completely to the side coming face to face with the other man. “This will be helpful.” 

\--

Eddie didn't know how long it took to them to reach their final destination, but he was sure that it was a faster flight than all the ones he flights on to reach Europe before. Banner had the jet land in a private airport and before he could think about a way of transport to move toward their destination, or, at least, what Eddie hoped would have been their destination, the journalist offered for them to rent a motorbike. It was faster than going around in a car, and, once again, Brook would have picked it over four wheels every other day. 

Somehow surprisingly, Bruce seemed to agree without problems to his idea and some twenty minutes later they were driving through the almost nonexistent traffic of the city. For once, it was a pleasant change of scenario from New York even if he could feel the anxiety from needing to rush things. He didn’t doubt that the threat he heard about from everyone since he moved to Avengers Tower was real and, for this reason, they needed to find the Rogues as soon as possible. He didn’t have the time to enjoy the new country he was in. Which was sad because he was generally a traveller. 

But, once again, it wasn’t like he was complaining. Maybe he just found another place where to spend time driving around, a place that he could visit once they found Captain America and his friends and saved the world. That thought, somehow, left him speechless. It was something he had never thought about, himself as a real hero. He didn’t even like the idea of calling himself such. Sure, he used that power, or sort of, it wasn’t like he had a power, more like Venom decided to help him, that case gave him to do the right thing because he couldn’t just turn his back at the idea of an alien race invading Earth and destroying San Francisco, but it wasn’t like he was a person who made the selfless sacrifice. 

He shook his head and kept following Banner once they got out from the highway and started to drive toward the city. The doctor’s eyes kept going from the road to the phone he was using as a GPS so Eddie guessed they must be close to whatever place Stark’s program found with the background of the picture. He really hoped the Captain was still there because, otherwise, they would have been clueless in a foreign country, without a palace where to go and with a threat looming over them. After a while of driving around, though, Banner stopped close to what seemed to be a residential building. It was high, in red-greyish bricks with a door hidden by the dark glass. In the complex, it seemed to be pretty anonymous, similar to all the others that were surrounding them, but one of the graffitis against the wall on the opposite side of the read was vaguely similar to one on the picture Stark found. 

Eddie supposed that was as good as they could get and waited for Banner to get off his motorbike and take his helmet off before doing the same. The doctor looked around, taking in where they were and a moment later he said: “Whoever took that picture did it from the opposite side of the road. There’s a cafe over here, and there was some sort of reflection in the shoot so, well, maybe someone in there knows.”

The journalist nodded, following what the other man just said and trying to bring back to his mind the picture he was talking about. He just saw it rapidly when he was to the Tower and he didn’t pay enough attention to it, so he supposed trusting the other man was the right thing to do. 

“You are too famous,” He answered, instead. Even if they weren’t in the US, it was clear that the man behind the Hulk was a celebrity, even more in a country so close to where Sokovia used to be. Eddie hadn’t thought about that before, but it was clear now that he would have to do all the talking if he wanted to get some honest answer. “I’ll go and ask if someone saw something. Stark said the picture was from two days ago, wasn’t it?”

Banner nodded again. “Yes. And I’ll walk over, if I find any other clue that they might be somewhere close, I’ll text you.”

Eddie waited for the other man to finish to speak before nodding and stepping to the other side of the road. It wasn’t anything new for him, quite the contrary. It was what he always did when he was working, chasing the new scoop or most likely getting into trouble because of it, he dropped by in places forgotten by everyone else and tried to see what they were hiding under the rug. This time, at least, he wasn’t trying to do that much but just obtaining some sort of answer about where two people were. 

The cafe was almost completely empty and Eddie couldn’t tell if it was because it was too late in the morning for anyone to get their breakfast or if that was the usual number of clients the place had. It wasn’t as if either would have surprised him so he just decided to ignore the thing for the moment and walked toward the man behind the counter and ordered a coffee before starting some small talking. It was something he learned over the years, despite his initial impatience to have all the answer to every question immediately. People tended to be more open toward the ones who spent time speaking with them and tried to get to know a bit about their lives. So he waited until the man started to speak about how the cafe was the activity his grandfather started after the end of the war, nodding and giving his opinions when requested before starting to speak about where he wanted to know. 

As he guessed, when Eddie showed him the picture and asked the man if he saw something the day it was taken, he started to speak immediately explaining that there was some sort of shooting not far from where the cafe was and the two heroes ran out from the building at the opposite side of the street. His daughter thought it was a good idea to take some pictures considering that, despite them being fugitive from the law according to the UN they gave up to the relative tranquillity they had in their hiding to help the people. He didn’t know if they went back in the building after helping around, but when the police arrived at the site of the shooting they were already gone, or that was what the newspaper said. 

“I don’t understand why half of the world thinks them to be criminals,” The man was saying. It was clear that English wasn’t his first language, his accent being extremely strong and making the words almost incomprehensible, but Eddie was used to that much too and was sure that he got the most important parts of their conversation anyway. “They help people, they always had. The parents of my wife… they are Sokovian. They would have been dead without the help of the Captain. He is the American hero, they said, and when he’s not, he’s a criminal running from justice, they say, and they pretend we just nod and do what they say. I’m happy that the police didn’t find them. Police never moved for shootings, here, but they were up and going the moment heroes’ names were thrown.”

Eddie could understand what the man meant, and he was well aware that was a real possibility: the only thing police seemed to care about, at least according to the owner of the cafe, was the momentary glory of getting the most wanted superheroes. And yes, very likely this didn’t make them the criminals Ross wanted them to appear to the eyes of the entire world, but it wasn’t his job to point that out or, better, it might have been, just not right away. So he nodded, said what he thought about the entire situation and then another answer crossed his mind: “Do you happen to know somebody who lives there?”

“My daughter does, I can call her and ask, if you want to get in,” The man’s eyes turned immediately from friendly to stern, and Eddie understood that what was going to say was of the greatest importance for him. “You want to find them, why?”

Eddie ran a hand in his hair and briefly checked his phone on the counter with his peripheral sight. There were no new texts or calls, meaning that Bruce didn’t find anything and that the owner of the cafe was still their best opportunity. He couldn’t show the man Venom and didn’t really want to call Bruce in to show with whom he was, so he decided to play it safe: “I am a journalist, and I’m trying to clean their names, but I need to speak with them to do that.”

That seemed to be enough for the man who nodded and a moment later a young girl entered from what Eddie supposed to be the back of the shop. Her English was better than her father’s and after a short conversation, she agreed to help Eddie enter into the building. Apparently one of the classmates lived there so she just texted her asking to open the door and, a moment later, they both were inside. The girls smiled at him and then climbed up the stairs while Eddie asked her to wait for him and his friend on the first floor. 

It didn’t take long before Bruce joined them and it looked like he had run a marathon to reach Eddie. If the girl recognized him, she didn’t say anything and then walked toward the one which Eddie supposed to be her classmate’s door. They asked the other girl if there was some apartment on sale or to rent and after she gave them the list of three empty houses inside of the building Eddie and Bruce thanked the two girls and started to walk toward the first of them. 

It was nice to see that the doctor thought exactly the same he did. Wherever Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson were hiding, it was very likely an inhabited apartment. And, to be extra sure that they wouldn’t get killed by the people they were looking for, Eddie decided it was a good idea to let Venom take the lead before opening, well, more like storming through, the first of the closed doors the girl showed them. 

It was only at the second door that Eddie realized that the place where it opened to was something where people were living. It was almost subtle, but it was clear that the place was lived mostly because they could see a jacked hanging on one of the chairs inside of the main room and there were two empty glasses against the kitchen counter. He tried to move as silently as possible, feeling Banner doing the same behind him but everything went to shit when a moment later, he felt something falling against his back. 

Venom roared, turning on himself and closing his hand around something, smashing it a moment later against the table which broke perfectly in the middle. It was only in that moment that both the alien and it’s host realized that it was not something, but someone. Most specifically the someone they had been looking for. 

“Steve!” A second voice came from what Eddie supposed was a different room, probably called by the clashing of Captain America against the floor. The blond hero lowered the arm which went up protecting his face and, a moment later, was up, again, half of the now broken table high in front of him as to shield himself against the next attack. Or that was Eddie thought just a moment before being slammed back against the wall behind him.

 _Fuck, that hurt!_ Venom yelled in his already aching head. Yeah, it hurt, and yet, all he’d like to do was to close his eyes for a second and refocus, and he would have done that if only Sam Wilson wasn’t on him a moment later, a gun pointed to his head. 

“Wait!” Someone else shouted, and only at that moment, Eddie reminded that he wasn’t alone in the house. Banner moved closer, reaching the main room too and raising his hands to prove to his teammates he wasn’t harmed. Not that it was of any use: all the people in that room knew that Bruce’s weapon was something completely different. “He is with me.”

“Bruce?” Steve asked, turning to look at the doctor the exact same time the Falcon lowered his gun and turned to look at Venom. “He?”

Venom smirked, hearing the implied question that was coming with Sam’s words. He decided not to answer, though, leaving the doctor doing all the speaking and explaining to the duo why they were there, looking for every possible ally.

“Are you sure Tony will want me back to the Tower?” Rogers said, and those were the words that broke the silence after a long time. The glance Banner threw him was surprised, as if he didn’t know how to answer or if he could give an explanation to what he was going to say. So he just nodded, choosing that to be the best and the safest option for the moment. 

“We’ll explain to you everything better once we are back on the jet if you’d like to follow us,” He said, at the end. Not so surprisingly, neither of the heroes lost time and they started to move around the house, collecting their stuff. Eddie, whose real identity was still hidden behind Venom, mostly because he noticed how everyone seemed to be alerted around him, mostly because Banner didn’t say anything about his presence there yet, noticed the Captain leaving a couple of 100 dollars bills on the kitchen counter before closing what was left of the door behind him and taking the stairs down. 

\--

On their way back to the US, Eddie happily let Rogers take the co-pilot seat, leaving Venom to be the one in the light. It was funny, leaning against the seats of a very relaxed Banner and the Captain who was so close to jumping every moment he leaned back against the back of his seat. 

“So, are we not going to address the elephant in the room?” Wilson asked, he didn’t even bother himself pretending he was interested in every conversation going on, not that it was something extremely interesting, at least if you asked Eddie. It was like they were trying to fill in what happened to both of them during the years that followed Sokovia. The journalist didn’t know a lot about it, except for the Accords and the downfall of it, but he wasn’t even so interested in keeping up with what they did. He somehow couldn’t really understand the obsession some people had with the Avengers’ and their private lives. He was grateful to them for what they did, but that was all. No need to follow them everywhere and know even the smallest detail of their lives. So, maybe, this was the reason why he was the first one to hear Sam’s question. That or because Venom was extremely jealous of how people defined him. 

“I’m not an elephant,” He growled, turning completely to facing Falcon who, differently from the Captain, didn't seem particularly scared by the symbiote. Probably it was because he thought that if Banner trusted him it meant that he wouldn’t have killed them, or just because he was underestimating the threat Venom could pose to him. Either way, Eddie didn’t particularly care considering that was well aware of the fact that Venom was just being playfully and would have never done anything to hurt the other man. “You are hurting Venom’s feelings, he might want to hurt you.”

“You can try,” Sam answered, and it was clear that he understood that Venom was joking, in his own weird way. As to confirm that much, the alien said to Eddie that he liked the bird-man. “But seriously, who are you?”

He asked an eyebrow raised while he indicated the black creature in front of him with a curt movement of his chin. Steve, who tensed when he heard Venom threatening to hurt Sam, visibility relaxed once he picked up the mocking tone in his friend’s voice. He turned the seat he was on to look at Venom in the eyes: “I have to admit I’m curious too.”

Eddie wondered how long he could keep to fuck up with the two men’s mind. He didn’t have any reason to do it, that was true, if not that it was funny and since Stark introduced himself to him he didn't have a lot of choices to have that little bit of fun, worried of the thing that was coming over them looking for the very foundations of their universe. 

“That’s an interesting story, indeed,” Banner said, an ironic smirk all over his face. 

“So, is he always like this?” Sam asked, resting his elbows against his knees and moving the weight forward, ready, very likely to listen to some weird explanation of how he got trapped into the black creature he was looking at. Which, yes, that would have come, just not right now. There was time to explain to everyone, especially if the other teams Stark sent all over the world would have come back with the rest of the Rogues, but he still had some hours to be the worst teammate ever and he wasn’t going to sleep on that opportunity. 

“No,” He answered, letting Venom uncover half of his body. “Sometimes I’m just handsome.”

The expression on Sam’s face was priceless to the point where Eddie thought he would have made a good TV show about himself, once the superhero life wasn’t suited for him anymore.

**Author's Note:**

> As always, kudos and comments are appreciated!
> 
>  **wanna say hi?** come on tumblr [@myrxellabaratheon](http://myrxellabaratheon.tumblr.com/) and [@ironstrange-is-the-endgame](http://ironstrange-is-the-endgame.tumblr.com/)  
>  **do you want a fic written by me?** Click on my Ironstrange Tumblr and follow the instructions in the pinned post.


End file.
